1. Field of the Invention
The invention described herein relates to information systems, and more particularly to delivery of multi-media content.
2. Background Art
Given the availability of data networks and the availability of high-speed data connections, it is now commonplace for end users to access multi-media content. A number of web sites now offer audio and video to users. Ideally, the user simply clicks on a link or control presented in a web page, and one or more multi-media files are delivered. If the user has the appropriate hardware and software configuration, the file can then be played.
There are currently a significant variety of user configurations, however. Some users have INTEL based personal computers (PCs), while others may have APPLE MACINTOSH computers. Different operating systems are also present. Some users will have a version MICROSOFT WINDOWS, from MICROSOFT, Inc., while others have a version of MAC OS, from APPLE, Inc. Moreover, each of these operating systems now has several versions in the user community. In addition, a number of software programs are now available to play multimedia on the computers of users. These players include QUICKTIME (from APPLE, Inc.), REALPLAYER (from REALNETWORKS, Inc.), and WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER (from MICROSOFT, Inc.). Moreover, each of these players has several versions that are currently available in the user community. Finally, different users may be operating at different data rates. Some users may have a high speed broadband connection, while others may have a 56K modem connection.
Given this variety of platforms, operating systems, players, and data rates, a content provider is faced with the problem of how to format the content to be delivered. Incorrect formatting would result in the delivery of content that was incompatible with a user's configuration. This could result in content that is unusable. If the content is usable, the content may be in a format that fails to take advantage of all the features available in the user's configuration, such that the content, as experienced by the user, is not as rich as it could be.
In the past, content providers have addressed this problem by choosing some set of common user configurations. The provider, for example, might identify the most common media players and versions thereof. The provider formats the content for each of these players and stores these assorted versions of the content. The provider would then develop a menu to be provided to the user, in effect asking which media player the user has, or, if the user has more than one, which player is preferred by the user. The user then makes a selection, and the content that has been pre-encoded in the selected format is delivered to the user.
This solution has limitations. First, it is relatively inflexible. The number of options is limited. A user's specific configuration may not have been presented as an option in the menu. And if an end user has more than one media player available to him, the user's preferred choice may not have been listed as an option. Also, the solution above requires user input each time. The user might not want to be queried. The user may instead prefer that formatting be resolved for him. In other situations, the user might not know the information requested by the menu. The user may not know what version of a media player he has.
This solution also requires that a content provider change their menus and re-encode content whenever new players (or new versions of existing players) become prevalent. The above solution, therefore, is inflexible and burdensome to both the user and the provider.
What is needed, therefore, is a way to determine a user's configuration so as to provide the user with content in a compatible format that leads to the optimal viewing experience. In addition, determination of the configuration should be made in a manner that minimizes the need for user input and is otherwise user-friendly.